“Kish here recalls both Lauryn Hill’s guard-down emotions,
articulated brilliantly on The Miseducation of…, and the solid narrative
structure that served Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city so well.
Her promise is reaching fruition. So let that download take its time.
Genius should never be...

Suggs, of legendary
ska popsters Madness, is married to a brilliant singer. She’s Bette Bright of
Deaf School fame. I’m at a Deaf School reunion gig - I see Bette and seize the
moment to thank her for letting me use
two of her songs in a musical I had written for The Liverpool Everyman.

Flattered,
she invites me to have a lager shandy with her old man, Suggs. Hunched up tight
in a cosy corner of The Hope Street Hotel I pitch an idea to the cheeky chap.

"BBC Radio 4. A play
created around a classic concept album. What do you reckon?"

Madness in the Radio 4 studio

"Hang about," barked
the bard of Camden Town. "I bet you been to Bowie for Ziggy Stardust?"

Spooky and uncannily
true.

"And he turned you
down?"

"Er. Well, his
management did."

"Pink Floyd for Dark
Side of the Moon?"

The man has a
crystal ball. Nay two.

"And now you want
Madness to let you loose with your grubby maulers on our classic, critically
acclaimed,...

"These songs give more with
each listen; Solange's vocal arrangements keep revealing an extra melody or
another ear-snagging lyric. The result is an incredibly addictive pop record
that's comparable to no other contemporary release. From a singer who's always
been defined by comparisons to somebody else, that's quite an
achievement."

This week on my
new BBC Radio 2 Folk Show, I’ve got some undisputed legends in session:
electric folk pioneers Fairport Convention. A band who, despite their fair
share of troubles, have continued to be a welcome presence on the folk scene
for more than 45 years.

Folk audiences
hold their elders in particularly high regard and aren’t easily distracted by
fashions or fads. This was writ large at last year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards,
when the fruitful collaboration between June Tabor and Oysterband – two acts
who first collaborated 20 years ago – swept the board. This was mostly...